The Consequences and Cure for Complaining, Part 1

If you have your Bible, turn with me to the book of Numbers, the 11th chapter. Numbers chapter 11, we have been studying the life of Moses as we begin to understand Moses, the man of destiny. We picked up on the life of Moses because we ended Genesis with the study of the life of Joseph. And he was a man of integrity. Moses is the man of destiny. When we're done with Moses, we're going to study Joshua because he is the man of victory. And so we're going to see how God's plan unfolds through these great leaders, but we're studying right now the life of Moses.

And so we find ourselves in Numbers chapter 11. And what we find here is a realization that we are just like the nation of Israel, unfortunately. We find ourselves in their sandals. We find ourselves following in their footsteps. Again, unfortunately. And yet, today our lesson is not so much theological as it is practical. And we begin to understand the relevancy of Scripture. As we see what the Bible has to say about the consequences and cure for complaining. Now, I know that it's just those who come to the second service that complain all the time.

Humor us, if you will, and listen to what the word of the Lord says in the first three verses. Of Numbers chapter 11, because that's as far as we're going to get this morning. We're going to look at the group that grumbled.

And then next week, we're going to look at the multitude. Who murmured. And then the following week, we're going to look at the leader who lamented those who grumbled and murmured.

It's going to be a great study because you'll realize that there's really a practical lesson here for you and for me as we begin to understand God's plan for our life. Let me read to you the first three verses, and then we'll talk about them this morning.

Numbers 11, verse number 1. Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord. And when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them, and cons some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses. And Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. So the name of that place was called Tiber, because the fire of the LORD burned Among them. Now, those three verses set the tone for how we begin to understand the consequences and cure for complaining.

The Bible says in Philippians chapter 2, verse number 14, that we are to do all things without grumbling and murmuring.

All things. Because when you do, Philippians tells us, it tells us that we prove ourselves children of the light. In other words, one of the key characteristics of the believer is that he's not a mumbler, a grumbler, a moaner, a groaner. You prove yourself to be a children of the light. And my plan is to help us understand why it is we grumble. What causes us to complain? And what it is God says we need to do so that we become people who don't mumble, don't grumble, don't moan, and don't groan.

I think that would be a great gift to give to your wife or to your husband or to your parents. Because in Numbers chapter 11, we're going to begin to see what it is we need to do to honor our Lord with our attitudes. Now, three things I want you to see about the group that grumbled. First of all, the perpetualness of the grumbling.

You remember, this isn't the first time they grumbled, right? It's been characteristic of the nation of Israel since they left Egypt. Remember, God had done a great work during the life of Israel. All the plagues, remember way back when we studied all the plagues in Egypt and what God did to redeem his people? To emancipate them, to set them free from their bondage. And what God gave them when they left, remember, they could ask the Egyptians for the jewelry, the gold, the silver, the dresses, the clothes, and the Egyptians would give.

Those items to Israel. And so they would leave with their pockets full. They would leave with new clothes. They would leave with new jewelry. They would leave with. With any kind of possession you could think of, they had, and they would set out on a journey. They found themselves at the Red Sea, and all of a sudden, they realized that Pharaoh was beating down upon them with his army, and they began to complain to Moses. You brought us out here to die in the wilderness. And Moses, through the word of God, did a great and mighty thing as God would part the Red Sea, as he would put his staff.

Into that sea. And you know the story of Pharaoh and how they were drowned there in the Red Sea. And they begin to sing a song in Exodus chapter 15 about. How God had given them victory, and how they were able to move on with that. And then, shortly after that, they found themselves without water. And they began to mumble and grumble again. And when they found some water, it was bitter water. They mumbled and grumbled again. And so God told Moses what to do, and that bitter water became fresh water.

He became the Lord their healer. And then things seemed to be going okay for a few days, and then they were without food, and they began to mumble and grumble about the fact that they had nothing to eat. So God, again, in a supernatural way, would provide manna from heaven. And tell them how they would collect the manna each and every day, and how they couldn't keep it over till the next day, except on the day before the Sabbath, and it would last two days. God had provided a miracle for them and given them something to eat.

They traveled a little further and then they were without water again, and so God performed another miracle and gave them something to drink. When the water would gush forth out of a rock, God was just so good to them. They just kept mumbling and grumbling and moaning and groaning, and God just kept doing miracle after miracle after miracle. Finally, he brought them to the base of Mount Sinai, and there they were.

And all of a sudden, Moses was too long up with the mountain to begin to mumble and grumble about that. And then they committed idolatry. And you know the whole story about that? When Moses came down off the mountain and saw them committing idolatry, he threw the. Stone tablets down, made them drink of the dust of those tablets. Some of them even died by the sword because the Levites would kill them because of their immorality and their idolatry. You'd think that they would have learned their lesson not to mumble, grumble, moan, or groan anymore, but they did not.

And so, and now it's It's a few months later, and they were at the base of Mount Sinai, Numbers chapter 10 tells us, for about 11 months. And so when you find them in Numbers chapter 11, it's approximately one year after they left Egypt. And God had done all these marvelous things leading up to their Exodus and throughout their journey through the wilderness. And we find them grumbling again. We find them groaning again. And the Bible says that the Lord heard it.

The Lord heard it and became angry. You see, they had forgotten some things. And I wish, you know. You know, we can just go back and read the whole story again. But I got read you just a couple of verses because you gotta understand what caused them to grumble because it helps us understand why we begin to complain about things. When things don't go our way, you know, it's either too hot or too cold in the auditorium. It's never just right. The service is either too long or too short. You e notice that?

It 's either too wet or too dry. It 's either too much or too little. There 's always something to moan and groan about. But go forward in Numbers, you read about Korah and his sons as they began to complain about Moses and his leadership. And God ended up killing those guys because they complained against the leadership that God had ordained. Remember Martha? She complained to the Lord because Mary wasn't pulling her end of the load. She wasn't fulfilling her end of the bargain. Martha had to do all the work, and she wasn't happy about that.

So she began to. complain to the Lord about their situation. It's all throughout the Bible. We are chronic complainers. We can always find something to complain about. We complain if our mother in law comes and stays between Christmas and New Year's. But be thankful she doesn't come between New Year's and Christmas. See? Took a little while to get that, didn't it? But you see, we always find something to complain about. And God is so gracious, isn't He? Every time they moan and groan, He just did another miracle.

Just did another miracle. But today. He does a miracle, but it's nothing what they expected. He destroys them. He consumes them. Fire comes down out of heaven. And kills them. I go back to the fact that what God said to them back in Exodus chapter 3, verse 8: I have come down. To deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. They're not there yet. But God told them what he was going to do, and they still grumbled.

But God had a plan, God had the right plan for them, and God's got a plan for your life as well. And I've come to realize that when the plan doesn't go as we thought it would go, what do we do? We gripe. That's Israel. And God was so good to them. Remember the bones of Joseph? Remember the bones of Joseph, Exodus chapter 13? And Moses, verse number 19, took the bones of Joseph with him. For he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God shall surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones From here with you.

Joseph back in Genesis chapter 50 made the sons of Israel swear, when I die. You leave my bones right here because there's going to come a day when you're going to leave. And you carry my bones with you because it's a promise that God will take care of you. So now, when they leave Egypt, Moses gathers up all those bones together and got them in his arm and says, Okay, man, let's go. We got the bones of Joseph. And remember the promise of the bones that God will surely take care of us. And as soon as they leave Egypt and they find any kind of adversity, what do they do?

They forget that God's going to take care of them, don't they? They forget. They moan, they groan, they gripe, they bellyach, they complain, because the plan wasn't going as they thought it should go. I kind of realized that's why we complain, isn't it? Things don't go as I thought they should have gone, and therefore I get upset. And that's what happened to Israel. And they were just three day from Mount Sinai. Numbers chapter 10, verse number 33 says, Thus they set out from the mount of the Lord three days' journey.

They were three days from that place where they saw the work of God. And they began to complain. Now, there will be some people who say, you know, I don't blame them. Because the Bible says over in the book of Deuteronomy, the 8th chapter, verse number 15, these words.

He led you through the great and terrible wilderness. With its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water. So we can kind of understand what they were thinking. So they began to complain about what was taking place. Have you forgotten about the bones? That surely God will take care of you. Have you forgotten about what God said? I'm going to take you to a land flowing with milk and honey. You're on your way. You're just about there. Because of my promise to you. And God's plan was being orchestrated just as He had designed it to be orchestrated.

And yet they didn't want to go with the flow that is God's flow. And it brought turmoil in their lives. The Bible says when the fire came down and burned them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

That is, when God sent the fire down, it came down not in the middle of the camp. But came down on the outskirts of the camp because that's where the laggards were. That's where the people who lagged behind were. We've talked about this before: that when they left, there were certain ones who lagged behind. You know, it's always the people that don't get involved that become the most chronic complainers. They're the ones on the outskirts. They don't really know what's going on on the inside. They kind of hear about it second, third, fourth hand, and they don't like what they hear, so they begin to complain about what they hear.

And these people on the outskirts were the ones who were consumed that day. And it's a good lesson for all of us that we need to be careful about hanging out with the laggards. The people who kind of stray on the outskirts of the assembly because they're always going to find something to complain about. And whatever it was these people found to complain about, they made sure their voices were heard. Now, maybe the people in the middle of the camp, there two million Jews here, so maybe the people in the middle of the camp didn't hear what was happening, but just those on the outskirts of the camp heard it.

And so when the fire came down, maybe those in the middle didn't understand what was going on. Because the judgment of God had come down upon those people. Which leads me to this, and that is the punishment for their complaining. The punishment. First of all, you need to understand the perpetualness of their complaining.

It was just something that always happened. Have you ever been around people like that? They're just such negative people, anyway, right? You know? And you hang around those people, you become negative too, right? You become thinking always on the negative. And so when you look at the punishment, You begin to realize how serious God is about this whole thing.

The Bible tells us that the Lord heard it. I always find it interesting that sometimes we complain thinking that nobody hears us. But God always hears us, doesn't He? We can go to our closet and shut the door and begin to rant and rave all about whatever it is that's happening, but God hears. Sometimes our children don't like. The orders their parents have given them, or the discipline they've given them. So they go to their rooms, they shut their doors, and they begin to complain and moan and groan about what their parents have done.

But God hears. We forget about that, don't we? God heard. And the Bible says he was angry. He was angry. His anger was kindled. He was infuriated. Why? Because he had a plan, see? And everything was going as planned and they didn't like it. Now God is the perfect one. He's the God of the universe. He's got a perfect plan. It's not a bad plan. It's a great plan. And so, as he begins to unfold that plan before us, when adverse circumstances come our way, what do we do? Well, this plan must not be a very good one, Lord.

You made a mistake. God makes no mistake. God does all things well. In fact, the Bible tells us that as for God, his way is perfect. And so we begin to complain when the plans don't go the way we think they ought to go. And God had a great plan. But you know they rebelled against that plan. They were an obstinate people. They were a stiff necked people. We told you Exodus chapter thirty four, remember we told you how many times that as God began to reveal him to Moses there on Mount Sinai, The way he revealed himself to Moses is the way he would deal with his people, Israel, to the end of time.

And it's the way he's dealt with them. He told Moses, I'm gracious, I'm compassionate. I'm slow to anger. Sure enough, he was slow to anger with them. He says, I forgive the iniquity. And the sins and the transgressions of my people, but I will not leave the guilty unpunished. That's what God said. And God has been slow to anger, but now the fuse is out. That's it. That's it. And so he executes those on the outskirts, those laggards on the outside of the camp. Those stragglers who don't want to be a part of what's happening, and therefore they begin to complain, and moan, and groan, and bail about all that's taken place.

And God says, That's it, and z. Fire comes down out of heaven. He doesn't use a natural consequence to kill them. He causes fire to come down out of heaven and absolutely consumes them. Now, you think about this for a moment. God said in Exodus chapter 33, Moses, I'm not going with you anymore. Remember after their sin of idolatry? God says, That's it, I'm done.

I'm not going with you. I'm going to send my angel before you, but I'm not going with you. You know why I'm not going, Moses? Because if I go, I am going to consume this obstinate, stiff-nick people. I am going to destroy them, so I'm not going to go with them. And Moses says, wait a minute, Lord. If you don't go, we ain't going anywhere. We can't go, Lord, unless you go with us. And God says, Are you sure about that?

Moses says, We're sure. You got to go with us? And God says, Okay, I'll go with you. And God just did what he promised he would do. If I go, I'll kill you because you're obstinate. You're stiff-necked. You're rebellious. See, the presence of God is a great thing unless you rebel against the presence of God. And that's what they did. So God just zapped them. Now that was a miracle, right? Instead of being gracious, comp as he has been up to this point, slow to anger as he said he was and is, and as he is.

He will not leave the guilty unpunished. So, God just did exactly what he said he was going to do. That was the plan of God unfolding in the life of Israel. So judgment takes place. God's spirit, Genesis 6, will not always strive with man. And remember, Israel had made a vow to God in Exodus chapter 19. Remember what they said? All the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. Whatever God says, we will do.

Whatever God wants us to do, we will do because we are going to make a vow to God and we are going to follow Him to the end. And they broke their vow. You see, they broke their commitment. We forget about that. Why can we blame God because they broke their commitment? Why do we blame God because he is slow to anger? Why do we blame God because he's been compassionate and kind throughout all this time to them? We can't blame God. God enacted his holiness, his holy judgment upon them because of their sin.

And it talks to us about the seriousness of complaining, doesn't it? It wasn't like they committed immorality. It wasn't like they murdered somebody. I mean, and it wasn't like they did in Exodus chapter 32 when they committed idolatry. All they did was moan and groan and bellyach and harp and complain. That 's all they did. That's not a big thing, is it? In the eyes of God, it is. Because you see, He's got a plan. And when you complain against the plan of God, you're telling God that His way is just not good enough.

And God takes that for a little while, but then his patience runs out. He says, That's it. I'm sorry. You're gone. And zap. They were gone. Can you imagine the impact of that? Now, you would think that the impact of that would cure all complaining, right? Verse 4, and the rabble who were among them had greedy desires, and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.

But now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this Manna, we're tired of it, Lord.

You see, why do people complain? They complain because of the plan of God and because of the provision of God. They complain because they don't want to go where the plan of God takes them, and they complain because they don't want what God wants to give them. That's why we complain. But we won't go any further into verse 4 because that's next week's lesson. But the punishment is severe because God says there is no sin trivial.

All sin is a major sin. Also notice that this special act of God was an act of grace because he didn't kill everybody, did he?

He only killed those in the outskirts. He didn't kill them all. So even in his judgment, you see his grace. Even in his judgment, you see his mercy. His kindness, his love. He doesn't kill them all. He just kills some of them. Not all of them, just some of them. And that's a lesson God wants us to learn because that's who He is. So even in his punishment, we understand the compassion and mercy of our God. And yet, he will not leave the guilty unpunished. Why does he use fire? Fire is a symbol in Scripture of judgment.

As you recall, Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by fire from heaven. As you recall in Revelation chapter 20, at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, Satan, having been bound for a thousand years, is released. He gathers the nations and the armies of the world to rebel one more time against God. And in Revelation chapter 20, verse number 9, it says this. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints. And the beloved city, that is the city of Jerusalem.

And fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Just z. And Satan was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone for all eternity after that. But the point is, is that when God judges man, he uses fire. You'll note in Revel 13: that the false prophet, the false prophet uses fire. To pro that the beast, the Antichrist, is God. Because the false prophet knows that fire from heaven is a proof that God is in ch. And so God calls fire down from heaven just as a symbol of what will take place ultimately when God judges the world.

The third thing I want you to notice is the plea. Verse 2: The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. The effectual fervent prayer of one man made more difference than two million Jews crying out to God. They went to Moses because they knew Moses had an end with God. They knew if anybody could stop the fire, it'd be Moses. Because Moses knew how to keep in contact with his God. He was a righteous man. He was a holy man. In the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

And they went to Moses, and Moses went to his knees and he prayed, God, stop the fire. And God stopped the fire. Stopped. Because Moses was a compassionate man. I think about this and I realize that, you know what, we have an identity problem, an identity crisis in the church. And the identity crisis in the church. Is the very fact that we think we are in charge and we're not. God is. He owns us. We are His slaves. Everybody in the world is a slave. Everybody. Everybody's a slave. You're either a slave of Satan or you're a slave of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

One of the two. You're a servant. And what do servants do? They serve. They do what they're told. And we as the people of God need to realize that God has purchased us, He's bought us. And God has a plan for us. And in the midst of that plan, He promises to provide all of our needs. And when we fail to recognize His plan, we'll grumble and complain. And when he provides for us, and we don't like what he gives, we'll moan and we'll groan. And yet, we are the servants, and he is the master. And so when we gather together around the Lord's table, we are celebrating the fact that we're no longer our own.

We're His. He's in charge. Lord, our life is yours. And we need to sit back and rejoice in what he's doing with us and where he's taking us because he's got a great plan. And we are a part of that plan. We ought to praise him for it. Let's pray together.